COVID-19 UPDATES

As the coronavirus (COVID19) continues to become a worldwide concern, so have the related scams and frauds using the coronavirus as a lure via email, phone calls and text messaging. This crisis provides opportunities for cyber criminals to capitalise on fear and uncertainty, spread misinformation, and prey on vulnerable individuals and businesses.

Below are some of the latest scams currently in circulation which are designed to tempt the recipient into providing sensitive banking and personally identifiable information (PII) or downloading and executing malicious files onto their home or office computers.

We advise you to be extra vigilant of communications allegedly from or with links to the following organisations:

World Health Organisation (WHO)

Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)

Global Health Centre welfare organisations

Especially when coupled with any of the below themes:

Gov.uk tax refunds

Mortgage/rent relief emails

Airline/Entertainment booking refunds

Business working conditions or policy emails due to the CV-19 situation

Services offering diagnosis

Download links to an app that tracks the virus via an interactive map

Campaigns raising money for research into cures, funds for victims etc.

An example of a scam via text message contains the following:“Urgent: UKGOV has issued a payment of 458 GBP to all residents as part of its promise to battle COVID 19. TAP here [link attached] to apply.”